


Building Bridges

by strawberriesandtophats



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Analysis, Established Relationship, Languages are hard, M/M, Multilingual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 08:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11009814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberriesandtophats/pseuds/strawberriesandtophats
Summary: It was on an otherwise perfectly ordinary Wednesday morning in St. Petersburg when Yuuri had apparently decided to shake Victor’s sense of calm to the very core. Again.“It’s strange that we’re already engaged and we never even went on a real date,” Yuuri said. His voice was casual, his eyes calm. There was no hint of rage in his body language, or even annoyance, only mild puzzlement. He was taking his skates off, his cheeks pink from the cold air. The ring gleams on his fingers as he yanks the skate off his left foot.Victor looked up from his phone and stared at Yuuri. He hadn’t been doing anything for the past year and a half other than deliberately seducing and courting Yuuri.Had he missed something?





	Building Bridges

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: Real Date

It was on an otherwise perfectly ordinary Wednesday morning in St. Petersburg when Yuuri had apparently decided to shake Victor’s sense of calm to the very core. Again.

“It’s strange that we’re already engaged and we never even went on a real date,” Yuuri said. His voice was casual, his eyes calm. There was no hint of rage in his body language, or even annoyance, only mild puzzlement. He was taking his skates off, his cheeks pink from the cold air. The ring gleams on his fingers as he yanks the skate off his left foot.

Victor looked up from his phone and stared at Yuuri. He hadn’t been doing anything for the past year and a half other than deliberately seducing and courting Yuuri.

Had he missed something?

He continued staring at Yuuri, watching as he took off the other skate and began taking off the multitude of protective equipment on his feet, rummaging around in his bag for a pair of clean socks. 

They were sitting on the same bench just outside the rink, and it was early enough in the morning so that they wouldn’t be interrupted. In the distance, Yurio could be heard shouting at his phone, switching between Russian and English seamlessly as he insulted whoever was on the other end of the line. Victor pocketed his own phone and straightened his back as Yuuri muttered something underneath his breath in Japanese as he moved clothing and various clear plastic cosmetic bags filled with all sorts of things aside within his bag.

Translation was always a chaotic business. Even when people who spoke the same first language often could not understand each other very well and misinterpretation was common across all languages. Translation problems weren’t excursive to different languages.

After all, every person who learned a language had an unique view and version of it that only existed to them. That version didn’t always match with other versions of that very same language, even if the difference was subtle in how that person defined certain words or based on clashing regional accents and cultural norms.And when it came to love, things got even more difficult. It was hard to know how to express emotional vulnerability in a language that was not your mother tongue. That sort of meaning, and how other cultures and people expressed love was so different.

Yuuri had often told him that Victor’s body language when he was speaking Russian to Yurio was different than when Victor was speaking English or Japanese to Yuuri. So there was also that to consider too. Victor made a conscious effort to allow himself to make his body language as open and emotional as possible so that they would both understand that he was being sincere about his feelings. And even then, he wasn’t totally sure if he was getting his meaning across all the time, to anyone. Even Yurio told Victor that he didn’t understand what Victor was trying to do or say. Victor had told Yurio the same thing, which had just resulted in Yurio becoming angry and shouting at him.

Then again, spending any time with Yurio was a quick and dirty pop up exam in analyzing meaning from in between the lines, as Yurio was prone to shouting around 95% of the time and never quite saying what he meant if he wasn’t trash-talking or insulting someone outright. 

Victor usually spoke to Yuuri in English, because that was how he could be certain he was getting meaning across, as it was the language they’d shared from the beginning. He’d switch to Japanese too, often code-switching in the middle of a sentence because the Japanese felt better or he couldn’t remember the exact translation in English. 

In response to that, Yuuri had been learning Russian. He’d try out simple sentences when they were home alone, and listen in on Yurio’s angry responses to his teachers, probably memorizing more curse words and insults than anything that would be useful in a polite conversation. On the upside, Yuuri was now very proficient in complaining in Russian to inanimate objects such as benches, which he would do if he accidentally stubbed his toe or thought the benches were too uncomfortable to sit on.

Victor looked down at his own engagement ring, which gleamed in the fluorescent lights of the skating rink. 

Well.

He must have done something right to get this far in the first place.

Translation was like the foxtrot or skating. You were always going to mess up anyway, at least in the beginning. The important thing was to dive in, even if you would make mistakes. At some point it would feel like flying, like there was nothing else in the world but the hope that you were being understood, even if you were only able to use your body to talk. And Yuuri had always understood him perfectly when Victor skated. It was important to try to make sure that their verbal communication was just as good, just as efficient.

Which was why he’d downloaded all those language apps and read Japanese elementary school textbooks religiously. He was already in this relationship for the long run, so it was just logical to try his best to understand Yuuri as much as possible. That included not just living with him and immersing himself in his culture, language and life, but continuing to make an effort to get better at it all the time.

“What sort of date would you like?” Victor asked. It was the most direct response and the one most likely to get him good results. He was already compiling a list of suitable restaurants and scenic walks that would be quiet but romantic.

“I have a few ideas,” Yuuri said, applying a coat of pain-relief gel on his ankles and knees. He was smiling. It was the smile he’d worn when he’d won the silver, breathless with pure joy.

Yuuri stood up and helped Victor up.

“Great!” Victor said. “I’m already looking forward to it.”

“I trust that you’ll meet me half-way,” Yuuri said, elbowing him playfully in the side. His eyes gleamed with amusement, already planning something. Victor smiled back.

People wanted to understand each other. If that meant breaking down language barriers, moving across continents and hurling themselves straight into the unknown, so be it.

It was worth it.

It was so worth it.


End file.
